Committing koromogae

Every six months, Japanese commit koromogae. Unlike harakiri, koromogae does not tend to result in death, unless the person committing it is smothered under a pile of their own clothes. This is actually not hard to imagine in a trend-driven town like Tokyo.For the uninitiated (or non-Japanese speakers among you), koromogae is a custom involving exchanging the contents of your summer wardrobe for your winter one, or vice versa. In Japan, due either to the inherent lack of space in people’s tiny apartments, or thanks to their obsession with shopping, it’s just not possible to keep a whole year’s worth of outfits in the one cupboard, so half the clothes get stuffed into boxes and shoved to the back of the wardrobe until they are required again in six months’ time. While living in Tokyo I acquired this custom and thanks to my obsession with buying crap in op shops, am forced to continue it even though I am now living in Melbourne. So, on a Friday night two weeks ago when I judged the weather to be turning steadily cooler, I committed koromogae to prepare for winter.Big mistake, as it is every time I do it.Of course, being Melbourne, the weather started heating up as soon as I’d sealed the lid on all my summer clothes, and I had to make the choice of either cracking open the vault to get at my warm weather gear or sweating in the Indian summer-style temperatures in my winter outfits. Anyway, as of today it looks like we’re finally on our way to winter, so I can relax for another six months… maybe.This is me, saying goodbye to summer…Dress – $7 from Savers (originally with a collar which I removed)Bangles – malachite ones from Cape Town, resin one from somewhere in IndiaEarrings – $2 from Savers (they only LOOK like slabs of rock, they are actually resin and very light and comfortable)Chunky turquoise necklace – generous gift from NepalStrands of turquoise – lots of shorter necklaces which I joined together to make a long one, from somewhere in IndiaSad expression – from the knowledge that I’m not going to be able to wear this sort of tropical outfit for half a year.